Systems and methods for distributing content in wireless networks

ABSTRACT

The present invention allows content to be delivered to a mobile terminal over different types of networks in order to efficiently use network resources. Content can be delivered using a select delivery method over a cellular network, a local wireless network, or a broadcast network. Within any of the networks, the content may be unicast to individual mobile terminals using individual content flows, multicast to a group of mobile terminals, or broadcast to any or all of the mobile terminals. Content can be multicast or broadcast to mobile terminals via different ones of the disparate networks. During a content flow, the network through which the content flow is delivered may be changed to allow the mobile terminal to receive the content through a different network. Further, the delivery method used to deliver the content may dynamically change as the number of mobile terminals receiving or requesting the content changes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 60/641,756 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORDISTRIBUTING CONTENT IN WIRELESS NETWORKS,” which was filed in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 7, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wireless communications, and inparticular to distributing different types of content via differenttypes of networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile communications have evolved to a point where broadband servicesare available through traditional cellular networks as well as throughlocal wireless networks, such as those supported by the IEEE 802.11standards for local wireless area networks and Bluetooth standards.Although local wireless access generally supports higher data rates,cellular coverage is much more pervasive. Further, local wireless accessis readily made available in areas where cellular access may not beavailable, such as in buildings or the like. In other areas, localwireless access and cellular access may be available at the same time.For the most efficient use of communication resources, it would bepreferable to use local wireless access if possible to conserve cellularresources. Given the complementary nature of cellular and local wirelessaccess, mobile terminals are being developed to support voice andbroadband services over both cellular and local wireless networks.

There is a new trend toward providing high quality digital audio andvideo content to large numbers of mobile terminals. Certain types ofcontent need to be made available to very large numbers of mobileterminals, wherein other types of content need to be sent to relativelylarge groups of users at any given time. For on-demand content, only oneor a few mobile terminals may need certain content at any given time.Accordingly, there is a need for unicast, multicast, and broadcastdelivery of content to mobile terminals. In current third generationstandards proposals, multicast and broadcast content flows are brokeninto unicast streams in a cellular network and delivered to mobileterminals in individual content flows. Transmitting large numbers ofredundant content flows through cellular network is very inefficient,and most cellular networks would not be able to support large numbers ofhigh-quality video sessions.

In an effort to avoid the inefficiencies of the third generationproposals, the use of a licensed or leased broadcast channel fordelivering multicast and broadcast messages to cellular users has beendiscussed. However, the limited number of available channels and thelack of a feedback or signaling channel limits the ability to distributeselect content to smaller groups of mobile terminals. Furtherinformation may be reviewed in the Digital Video Broadcasting forHandheld (DVBH) and MediaFLO™ proposals. Unfortunately, these proposalsare greatly limited in their ability to optimize resource use and offerthe flexibility to provide various types of content and qualities ofcontent to different groups of mobile terminals. Further, thesestandards fail to take into consideration the integration of cellularand local wireless communications.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved technique for distributingcontent among mobile terminals through disparate networks in anefficient and effective manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention allows content to be delivered to a mobileterminal over different types of networks in order to efficiently usenetwork resources. In particular, content can be delivered using aselect delivery method over a cellular network, a local wirelessnetwork, or a broadcast network. For cellular and local wirelessnetworks, content can be delivered throughout the network or to one ormore select zones, such as cells or local wireless zones, or to all orselect mobile terminals located within those zones. Within any of thecellular, local wireless, or broadcast networks, the content may beunicast to individual mobile terminals using individual content flows,multicast to a group of mobile terminals, or broadcast to any or all ofthe mobile terminals. Notably, content can be multicast or broadcast tomobile terminals via different ones of the disparate networks. During acontent flow, the network through which the content flow is deliveredmay be changed to allow the mobile terminal to receive the contentthrough a different network. Further, the delivery method used todeliver the content may dynamically change as the number of mobileterminals receiving or requesting the content changes. Content controland delivery is provided at a network layer or higher, such thatdisparate networks appear as a common network from an applicationstandpoint.

In one embodiment, a service delivery controller is associated with oneor more content providers to effect delivery of content to mobileterminals. Depending on the capabilities of the mobile terminals and thenumber of mobile terminals requesting or receiving the content, theservice delivery controller will determine a delivery method fordelivering the content to the mobile terminals, as well as a network ornetworks through which the content should be routed to reach the mobileterminals. The routing decision may result in one or more content flowsthrough one or more of the disparate networks. Further, the locations ofthe mobile terminals may result in the content being directed to one ormore zones within a given network, or alternatively, broadcastthroughout the network or networks.

The service delivery controller will receive information bearing on thecapabilities of the mobile terminals, and based on their capabilitiesand the number of mobile terminals receiving or requesting the content,will create and send network selection indicia and address indicia tothe mobile terminals receiving or requesting the content. The networkselection indicia corresponds to the network used to deliver the contentto the mobile terminal. As such, the mobile terminal can use the networkselection indicia to select an appropriate network interface or networkthrough which to receive content. The address indicia corresponds to thedelivery method, such as unicast, multicast, or broadcast, andcorresponds to an address to which content is directed. The mobileterminals will be able to use the address to identify the contentcorresponding to a desired content flow. For unicast delivery, theInternet Protocol address for the mobile terminal may be the address towhich content is directed. For multicast or broadcast delivery methods,the address indicia will assign a common address to a group of mobileterminals. The address is used by the mobile terminals to recognizecontent associated with the desired content flow. The service deliverycontroller may also provide encryption information and the like toassist in content reception.

Prior to the delivery of content, the service delivery controller mayreceive registration requests from the mobile terminals through thelocal wireless or cellular networks and register the mobile terminal foreach of the cellular, local wireless, and broadcast network in a singleregistration. The service delivery controller may also validate mobileterminals' subscriber policies to ensure that the mobile terminals havesufficient resource allocations within the appropriate networks, as wellas authorization to receive the requested content. Depending on relativeservice levels, the same content may be delivered in different contentflows that have different quality of service levels. The servicedelivery controller can continuously monitor capabilities of the mobileterminals as the mobile terminals report those capabilities, as well asmonitor the number and type of mobile terminals receiving or requestingto receive select content. As these capabilities and numbers change, theservice delivery controller can instruct the mobile terminals to changenetworks, effect delivery of the content through different networks assuch changes occur, as well as change delivery methods. Notably,changing delivery methods may change the number of content flows used todeliver the content to the various mobile terminals, change the numberof mobile terminals receiving the content, or a combination thereof.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentinvention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block representation illustrating the delivery of unicastcontent, multicast content, and broadcast content to a mobile terminalover a broadband wireless access network.

FIG. 2 is a block representation illustrating the delivery of content toa mobile terminal over a cellular network, local wireless network, andbroadcast network according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block representation of a communication environmentaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate various types of service areas with cellular,local wireless, and broadcast networks for a given area and selectivelydelivering content to all or different portions of the given area usingthe different service areas provided by the cellular, local wireless,and broadcast networks.

FIGS. 5A and 5B provide a flow diagram illustrating the operation of aservice delivery controller according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B provide a flow diagram illustrating the operation of amobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 provides a communication flow for registering and requestingcontent according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a communication flow illustrating the service deliverycontroller assigning a new service area or address to a mobile terminalaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a communication flow illustrating the mobile terminalinitiating a service area change according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 is a block representation of a service delivery controlleraccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block representation of a mobile terminal according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

The present invention facilitates delivery of content streams to mobileterminals over disparate types of access networks, such as cellular,local wireless, and broadcast networks, in an effort to minimize theresources required to deliver the content. The content streams may bedelivered to the mobile terminals using unicast, multicast, or broadcastmethods in each of the cellular, local wireless, or broadcast networks,or any combination thereof. In an effort to improve efficiency, contentstreams for multiple mobile terminals are multicast or broadcast toavoid using individual unicasts for each of the multiple mobileterminals. The invention also improves quality of service for mobileterminals in poor reception areas, and provides delivery continuity asmobile terminals roam across various coverage areas. The content streamsmay also be unicast or multicast only in one or more select cells orzones of the cellular and local wireless networks to further improvedelivery efficiency. Accordingly, a content stream may be multicast in abroadcast network or broadcast in a cellular or local wireless networkor any portion therein.

Delivery of the content streams may be transitioned from one type ofnetwork to another as the mobile terminal moves or in an effort toimprove efficiency. Transitions between cells or local wireless accesszones are handled by the underlying access network in traditionalfashion. Further, the delivery method for a given content flow may bedynamically transitioned from one method to another. For example, as thenumber of mobile terminals for a given flow increases, the deliverymethod may be changed from unicast to multicast and vice versa. Notably,different delivery methods may be used in different networks for a givenflow.

Content delivery is provided using the Internet Protocol (IP) or likenetwork layer protocol, such that the underlying cellular, localwireless, and broadcast networks appear as a unified network. Control ofthe content delivery may be provided using the Session InitiationProtocol (SIP), or like session control protocol, through an availablecellular or local wireless network, since the broadcast network will notgenerally support bi-directional control signaling. As such, theunderlying communication functionality of the respective networks isleveraged, while overall content delivery and control is provided usingIP.

For clarity, a broadcast delivery method refers to a single point tomultipoint content delivery service, where content from a sender may bereceived by any mobile terminal with an appropriate receiver and withina service area in which the content can be received by the mobileterminal. Again, broadcast content can be provided throughout or withinselect areas of the cellular, local wireless, and broadcast networks. Amulticast delivery method is a single point to multipoint contentdelivery service, where content from a sender can be received only by atargeted group of mobile terminals with the appropriate receivers andwithin a service area in which the content can be received. Multicastcontent can be provided throughout or within select areas of thecellular, local wireless, and broadcast networks. A unicast deliverymethod is a single point to single point delivery service where contentfrom the sender may be received by only one intended mobile terminal.The present invention avoids using unicast delivery methods whenpossible and attempts to optimize the use of multicast and broadcastdelivery methods among the various types of networks to make efficientuse of network resources. Prior to delving into the details of thepresent invention, an overview of a communication environment accordingto one embodiment is described.

With reference to FIG. 1, a functional representation of a communicationenvironment 10 is illustrated. A mobile terminal 12 is configured tocooperate with a service delivery controller 14 to select content toreceive from one or more content providers 16 over a broadband wirelessaccess network 18, which will be described in further detail below.Based on various criteria, including the number of mobile terminals 12receiving selected content or requesting to receive selected content,the service delivery controller 14 will select a service delivery methodto facilitate delivery of the selected content to the illustrated mobileterminal 12, as well as any other mobile terminals 12 receiving orscheduled to receive the selected content. The service deliverycontroller 14 may select unicast, multicast, or broadcast deliverymethods for delivering the selected content. During a given contentflow, the service delivery controller 14 may coordinate with the mobileterminal 12 to dynamically change from one delivery method to another asthe number of mobile terminals 12 receiving or scheduled to receive theselected content changes. As will be described further below, otherconditions, such as the mobile terminal 12 changing from one network toanother or from one communication zone to another, may impact thedecision to transition from one delivery method to another, as well asimpacting the initial delivery method to use when a content flow isinitiated.

Notably, different content flows may use different delivery methods. Forexample, a first content flow may be unicast to a few mobile terminals12, a second content flow may be multicast to a larger group of mobileterminals 12, and a third content flow may be broadcast such that anymobile terminal 12 with the appropriate capabilities to receive thecontent flow that is within communication range of the broadbandwireless access network 18 will be able to receive the content flow. Thecontent flow may correspond to different content, such as differentprograms, or the same content at different quality levels.

With reference to FIG. 2, the broadband wireless access network 18 isformed of disparate types of networks using different networktechnologies to facilitate wireless communications or transmission ofcontent. As illustrated, in one embodiment of the present invention thebroadband wireless access network 18 includes a cellular network 20, alocal wireless network 22, and a broadcast network 24. The servicedelivery controller 14 is appropriately coupled to each of thesenetworks to facilitate the control or delivery of content to the mobileterminal 12, perhaps from the content provider 16 or from another sourceinternal to the respective networks. Notably, the content flow may bedelivered using unicast, multicast, or broadcast delivery methodsthrough any one or all of the three networks: cellular network 20, localwireless network 22, and broadcast network 24. One aspect of the presentinvention allows content delivery control and content delivery to besupported on top of the existing network infrastructure, such thatcontent may be addressed for unicast, multicast, or broadcast deliveryto the mobile terminal 12 in a manner treating each of the differentnetworks as effectively an overall broadband wireless access network 18.

The mobile terminal 12 will need to have appropriate wireless interfacesto facilitate communications over the cellular network 20, the localwireless network 22, and the broadcast network 24. During operation, themobile terminal 12 will need to register for access with the cellularnetwork 20 and the local wireless network 22, and be configured toreceive content transmitted from the broadcast network 24. Once accessto the cellular network 20 or the local wireless network 22 is provided,the mobile terminal 12 will be able to communicate with the servicedelivery controller 14 through either the cellular network 20 or thelocal wireless network 22 to allow reception of the content at themobile terminal 12.

To deliver the selected content to the mobile terminal 12, the servicedelivery controller 14 needs to identify the network through whichselected content will be delivered, and how to identify content when itis delivered. The service delivery controller 14 will identify thenetwork through which the selected content will be delivered, andprovide address indicia to assist the mobile terminal 12 in identifyingthe content being delivered. The network for delivering the content mustbe one through which communications with the mobile terminal 12 arecurrently available, and may be based on the preferences of the mobileterminal 12 or preferences of the service delivery controller 14 whenmultiple networks are currently available. Notably, content may bedelivered throughout a network or to select zones in a network, such ascells, local wireless zones, and the like.

The address indicia provided to the mobile terminal 12 may correspond toa unicast address, a multicast address, or a broadcast address, whichwill be provided as a destination for the packets carrying the selectedcontent. The mobile terminal 12 will monitor incoming packets andidentify incoming packets with an appropriate address as packetscorresponding to the selected content. The mobile terminal 12 need notdistinguish between various types of addresses; however, the mobileterminal 12 may need to use the type of IP address to determine whichradio access channel to monitor. The service delivery controller 14 mayuse these addresses to deliver the content according to a selecteddelivery method. The unicast address may be the IP address associatedwith the mobile terminal 12. Multicast and broadcast addresses may bedynamically provided to the various mobile terminals 12 in therespective multicast or broadcast groups. As such, one embodiment of thepresent invention dynamically assigns multicast and broadcast addressesto content flows and notifies participating mobile terminals 12 tofacilitate the reception of content flows that are multicast orbroadcast.

The signaling between the service delivery controller 14 and the mobileterminals 12 will generally be unicast signaling. As indicated above, asthe mobile terminal 12 moves within a given network, such as thecellular network 20 or the local wireless network 22, network accesstransitions from one cell or zone to another are handled by theunderlying network. However, the service delivery controller 14 may playa role in controlling what cells and zones are used for unicast,multicast, or broadcast delivery of content based on the mobileterminal's location. The service delivery controller 14 will alsocooperate with the mobile terminal 12 to facilitate transitions from onenetwork to another, such as from the cellular network 20 to thebroadcast network 24, for receiving selected content. In essence, theservice delivery controller 14 will establish or otherwise ensure thecontent flow is being provided over the new network to which the mobileterminal 12 is going to transition, and then instruct the mobileterminal 12 to transition from receiving the content flow via onenetwork to another. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 12 may be receivingselected content over a local wireless network 22 using a unicastdelivery method, and then transition to the broadcast network 24 toreceive the same content flow via multicast delivery upon coming withinthe communication range of the broadcast network 24. In another example,numerous mobile terminal 12 receiving the same selected content as partof a multicast group may receive the selected content over differentnetworks, wherein the selected content is multicast over the differentnetwork such that mobile terminals 12 within range of the respectivenetwork can receive the selected content.

The service delivery controller 14 may take into consideration variouscriteria in an effort to minimize resources necessary to deliverselected content to any number of mobile terminals 12 over all or partof one or more of the networks. An example delivery control profile isas follows:

-   -   for widely distributed content intended for a large number of        mobile terminals 12, broadcast delivery via the broadcast        network 24;    -   for content selected by a relatively large number of mobile        terminals 12 or for widely dispersed mobile terminals 12,        multicast content via the broadcast network 24;    -   for content selected by a relatively small number of mobile        terminals 12, multicast delivery via the cellular network 20;    -   for delivery of content to mobile terminals 12 in selected        areas, broadcast delivery for specific cells or local wireless        zones via the cellular network 20 and local wireless network 22,        respectively; and    -   for content corresponding to a particular network, broadcast        delivery through the given network to deliver the content.

With reference to FIG. 3, the communication environment 10 isillustrated in greater detail. As illustrated, a core network 26 may bea uniform network or be formed of various networks to effectivelysupport communications between the service delivery controller 14 andthe cellular network 20, local wireless network 22, and broadcastnetwork 24. The service delivery controller 14 may be directlyassociated with the broadcast network 24 or any of the other networks,or indirectly via the core network 26. The cellular network 20 isillustrated as including multiple base stations 28 forming cells orcellular zones 30 in which cellular communications with the mobileterminal 12 are possible. Similarly, the local wireless network 22 isillustrated as including multiple local wireless access points (LW APs)32, forming local wireless zones 34 in which local wirelesscommunications with the mobile terminal 12 are possible. The localwireless zones 34 are generally more restricted in area than cellularzones 30, and are supported using various local wireless accesstechnologies, such as those set forth in the IEEE's 802.11 wirelesslocal area network standards. Those skilled in the art will recognizeother available local wireless communication techniques.

Also illustrated is a broadcast station 36 associated with the broadcastnetwork 24. The broadcast station 36 will generally cover a very broadgeographic area. Policy servers 38 and 40, which are associated with thecellular network 20 and the local wireless network 22, respectively,represent the specific network entities for controlling access by themobile terminal 12 and control the network resources made available tothe mobile terminal 12 and supporting any type of communications.

With reference to FIG. 4A, an exemplary relationship between cellularzones 30, local wireless zones 34, and a broadcast zone 42 isillustrated. As is generally the case, the broadcast zone 42 providesfairly comprehensive coverage over a wide geographic area, wherein thecellular zones 30 each provide cellular coverage over a smallergeographic area. Multiple cellular zones 30 are configured to overlapone another to provide consistent coverage for the overall cellularnetwork 20, wherein as the mobile terminal 12 moves from one cellularzone 30 to another, a handoff is required from one base station 28 toanother. The local wireless zones 34 are generally significantly smallerthan the cellular zones 30, and have traditionally provided lesscontinuous coverage over any given area. Oftentimes, the local wirelesszones 34 are relatively isolated from one another; however, clusters oflocal wireless access points 32 may be placed to provide contiguouslocal wireless zones over a given area.

FIG. 4B illustrates the potential delivery area for the broadcastnetwork 24. FIG. 4C illustrates the potential delivery area for theentire cellular network 20. FIG. 4D illustrates the potential deliveryarea for the available local wireless zones 34. FIG. 4E illustrates thedelivery area when the central cellular zone 30 and certain localwireless zones 34 are selected. FIG. 4F illustrates the potentialdelivery area when three cellular zones 30 are selected. FIGS. 4B-4Fillustrate the limitless ways in which content may be delivered usingunicast, multicast, or broadcast delivery techniques for entirenetworks, portions of networks, or any combination thereof.

For the present invention, the service delivery controller 14 mustdetermine the delivery method for a given content flow and a deliveryarea for the content flow to enable mobile terminals 12 that requestedthe content to be able to receive the content. Since the delivery areamust be within a service area of one of the cellular network 20,broadcast network 24, and local wireless network 22, the servicedelivery controller 14 must select one of the networks, apportion one ofthe networks, or a combination thereof, for delivery of the content.Different address indicia will be created for different delivery methodsas described above. The service delivery controller 14 will arrange foror actually deliver the content to the designated delivery areas. Inaddition, the service delivery controller 14 must provide the mobileterminal 12 with the multicast or broadcast address indicia for theselected content, such that the mobile terminal 12 can use the addressindicia for identifying content intended to be delivered to the mobileterminal 12. The service delivery controller 14 will also providenetwork indicia identifying the network through which the selectedcontent will be delivered. From the network indicia, the mobile terminal12 will be able to activate the appropriate cellular, local wireless, orbroadcast network interface to receive the content.

To determine a delivery method for a given content flow and select anetwork and perhaps delivery area within a network to use for deliveringthe content, several criteria may be used. Certain criteria may only beused to select the delivery mode or used only to select the network ordelivery area within the network through which the content is delivered.In other embodiments, certain criteria may be used to aid in determiningboth the delivery mode and the network or delivery area within thenetwork.

Selecting the network or delivery area within a network for deliveringthe selected content is referred to as a content routing decision. Thecontent routing decision may be based on various capabilities of themobile terminals 12 to which the content should be delivered based on aspecific request, or simply delivered in general, such as may be thecase for certain television programming. The mobile terminalcapabilities in general relate to either the physical configuration ofthe mobile terminal 12, or its relative location with respect to beingable to receive communications from one or more of the availablenetworks. A physical capability may relate to the availablecommunication interfaces for the mobile terminal 12, whether theseinterfaces are active, and whether these interfaces are actually capableof receiving communications from a particular network. The lattercapability may be considered related to the relative location of themobile terminal 12, and that the ability to receive communications froma given network or associated communication zone is indicative of themobile terminal's location.

Other capabilities may include the mobile terminal's display size andits ability to process streaming content. Different mobile terminals 12may have different capabilities or service agreements dictating thequality of the content. For example, certain mobile terminals 12 mayonly be able to receive or subscribe to receive highly compressed,low-resolution television signals, whereas other mobile terminals 12 maybe able to receive standard definition content. Other mobile terminals12 may be able to receive high-definition content. Based on thesedifferent physical capabilities, the same content may be delivered todifferent groups of mobile terminals 12 at different resolutions orquality of service levels, wherein there are different flows for thedifferent resolutions. Each resolution may be multicast to acorresponding address, which was previously provided by the servicedelivery controller 14 to the respective mobile terminals 12.

As indicated, the location indicia may bear on the mobile terminal'scurrent ability to receive communications from a given network orservice area within a network, which may correspond to a cellular zone30 or local wireless zone 34. Actual location information may be derivedfrom Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers integrated with themobile terminal 12, or by using information derived from the variousnetworks or triangulated by the mobile terminal 12.

Routing decisions may also be based on the type of content beingrequested, as well as the number of mobile terminals 12 that haverequested the selected content. The number of mobile terminals 12 mayrelated to overall numbers, or concentrations in particular areas.Accordingly, geographic distribution and concentrations may factor intothe routing decision and may be considered related to relative locationsof each of the mobile terminals 12.

All of the above criteria may also impact the delivery method selection.Of particular benefit in selecting the delivery method is the number ofmobile terminals 12 that have requested or that are receiving certaincontent in general, or at various locations. In one embodiment, therouting and delivery method decisions are a function of a variety ofcriteria, wherein different criteria may weigh more heavily on eitherthe routing decision or the delivery method decision. Those skilled inthe art will recognize that weighting and use of the various criteriaare a service provider's or network operator's choice, and will be basedon the optimization goals, capabilities, and limitations for thenetworks, content, and mobile terminals 12 involved.

With reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B, a flow diagram is provided toillustrate the operation of the service delivery controller 14 accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. For a given mobile terminal12, the service delivery controller 14 will receive a registrationrequest to register for the content delivery service (step 100). At thispoint, the mobile terminal 12 will already have registered with thesupporting access network, and will have rights and privilegessufficient to allow communications with the service delivery controller14. The registration request may include capabilities for the mobileterminal 12. These mobile terminal capabilities may be used by theservice delivery controller 14 to make routing and delivery methodselection decisions. The service delivery controller 14 will registerthe mobile terminal 12 with the content delivery service (step 102), andperhaps provide an electronic service guide to the mobile terminal 12(step 104). The electronic service guide may be provided to the mobileterminal 12 as content, or in the form of a uniform resource indicator(URI), which points to a server from which the electronic service guidemay be retrieved. The mobile terminal 12 will be able to display theelectronic service guide to its user and receive a selection from theguide. The selection corresponds to a desired content that the user hasrequested to be delivered to the mobile terminal 12 for viewing or thelike. The guide may be customized to the capabilities of the mobileterminal 12, preferences of the subscriber, subscription (service levelagreement) currently in force for this subscriber, capabilities of thedelivery network, or any combination thereof.

The mobile terminal 12 will then send the content selection informationto the service delivery controller 14, which will receive the contentselection information (step 106). Based on the content selectioninformation, the service delivery controller 14 may need to validate theselection in light of various service level agreements (step 108). Afirst agreement may relate to the resource capabilities to which themobile terminal 12 is subscribed with the various access networks.Another service level agreement may be the actual content service levelagreement, which dictates the type of content and content quality thatcan be delivered to the mobile terminal 12. Alternatively, a customizedguide may only include content that the subscriber is allowed to access.

At this point, the service delivery controller 14 has the mobileterminal's content request and also has information pertaining to othermobile terminals 12 that may already be receiving corresponding content,or wish to receive corresponding content (step 110). The servicedelivery controller 14 will then select service areas for routing theselected content flow (step 112). Again, the service areas maycorrespond to entire networks, cellular zones 30, local wireless zones34, or any number or combination thereof. See FIGS. 4B-4F for examples.The service delivery controller 14 will also select the delivery methodor methods for delivering the content flow to the selected service areas(step 114).

In one embodiment, the primary criteria for determining the deliverymethod is substantially based on the number of mobile terminals 12requesting the selected content and that are currently receiving theselected content:

-   -   when the number of mobile terminals 12 in a given network b is        less than N_(b), use unicast delivery for each mobile terminal        12, wherein replicated content flows are provided for each        mobile terminal 12;    -   when the number of mobile terminals 12 is greater than N_(b),        use multicast delivery for the mobile terminals 12, wherein one        or more multicast content flows may be provided for one, or more        groups of mobile terminals 12; and    -   when essentially all of the mobile terminals 12 should receive        the content flow, use broadcast delivery for the content.        The above delivery method selection criteria is provided for        explanation only, but the same or similar criteria may be        applied for all the mobile terminals 12 for a given content        flow, regardless of network, or on a network-by-network or        zone-by-zone basis, wherein different delivery methods are        selected for different networks or portions thereof at the same        time for a given content flow.

Based on the routing and delivery method decisions, the service deliverycontroller 14 will then assign network selection and address indicia forthe mobile terminal 12 and any other mobile terminals 12 that arerequesting information or need an update when such information ischanged (step 116). The service delivery controller 14 will then delivercontent flow having the assigned address indicia to the selected serviceareas, which have now become delivery areas, using the selected deliverymethods (step 118). Again, multiple flows may be required to service allof the mobile terminals 12 in the various delivery areas. The servicedelivery controller 14 will then send a network selection and addressindicia to the mobile terminal 12 and any other mobile terminals 12 thatneed the information (step 120).

At this point, the mobile terminals 12 can begin or continue receivingthe content. During operation, the mobile terminal 12 may continue tomonitor and report its capabilities to the service delivery controller14, which will be receiving capabilities updates from various mobileterminals 12 (step 122). Accordingly, the service delivery controller 14can reevaluate the routing delivery method decisions, and if changes arenecessary, generate and deliver the requisite network selection addressindicia to the affected mobile terminals 12. If multicasting orbroadcasting for a given flow is provided over two networks, the mobileterminal 12 changing from one network to another will only require anupdate of network indicia, which will trigger the mobile terminal 12 tosimply start receiving the content through the new network using thesame address indicia. If the content flow is not already establishedover the new network, the service delivery controller 14 will need totake the necessary steps to start routing the content to the selectedarea through the new network. If multicasting is maintained, the sameaddress indicia may be used. Otherwise, the mobile terminal 12 may beinstructed to use its IP address where unicasting is used to delivercontent to the mobile terminal 12 through the new network. If thedelivery method changes in a given network, the mobile terminal 12 willbe updated with appropriate address indicia corresponding to the newdelivery mode. As such, the delivery mode may be changed, such aschanging from multicasting to unicasting, and vice versa.

Accordingly, the routing and delivery methods for a given content flowmay be re-optimized based on changes in mobile terminal capabilities andthe number of mobile terminals 12 to receive the content flow. Thesechanges may be triggered by the mobile terminals 12, or by the servicedelivery controller 14. For example, upon receiving a request from amobile terminal 12 to receive a content flow over a different network,the service delivery controller 14 may respond as follows. If the newnetwork is already supporting the content flow using a multicast orbroadcast delivery method, the service delivery controller 14 willinform the mobile terminal 12 that the content flow is afforded usingthe existing address indicia, and make note that the mobile terminal 12is now receiving the content from the new network and remains part ofthe multicast or broadcast group of mobile terminals 12. If the newnetwork is not currently supporting the content flow, the servicedelivery controller 14 will initiate the content flow in the newnetwork, and provide the mobile terminal 12 with appropriate addressindicia or indicate that the current address indicia is still valid,assuming that the new content flow is established for the same multicastor broadcast delivery method.

A change in the number of mobile terminals 12 associated with a givencontent flow may initiate a change in the delivery method for thecontent flow. When the delivery method is changed, the service deliverycontroller 14 may operate as follows. If the number of mobile terminals12 receiving the content flow via unicast delivery goes above N_(b), theservice delivery controller 14 may establish a multicast content flow inthe current network and then migrate the affected mobile terminals 12 tothe multicast content flow. If the number of mobile terminals 12receiving the multicast content flow subsequently falls belowN_(b)-K_(b), where K_(b)<N_(b), the service delivery controller 14 willsystematically establish unicast content flows for each of the mobileterminals 12 and migrate the mobile terminals 12 to the respectiveunicast content flows.

With reference to FIG. 6A, an illustration of the operation of themobile terminal 12 is provided according to one embodiment. Initially,the mobile terminal 12 will register with the available access networks,such as the cellular network 20 or the local wireless network 22 intraditional fashion (step 200). The mobile terminal 12 will thencommunicate through one of the active cellular or local wirelessnetworks 20, 22 to register with the service delivery controller 14(step 202). During the registration process, the mobile terminal 12 mayprovide its capabilities, including any location information. With thepresent invention, only one registration effort is required to registerwith the service delivery controller 14, regardless of whether localwireless or cellular access is used to support registration. The mobileterminal 12 will then receive an electronic service guide or a URI foran electronic service guide from the service delivery controller 14(step 204). If necessary, the guide is retrieved using the URI, and thenprovided to the user. During this time, the mobile terminal 12 maysystematically or periodically update the service delivery controller 14with its capabilities (step 206).

Upon receiving user input responding to a content selection from theelectronic service guide, the mobile terminal 12 will provide contentselection information corresponding to the selected content to theservice delivery controller 14 (step 208). The mobile terminal 12 willthen receive the network selection indicia, address indicia, anddecoding information for receiving content flow for the contentselection (step 210). The mobile terminal 12 will begin receiving thecontent flow using the address indicia via the network interfacecorresponding to the network selection indicia (step 212). As such, themobile terminal 12 may use the network selection indicia to activate oruse its cellular interface, local wireless interface, or broadcastnetwork interface to receive the content flow. Again, the content flowwill be addressed with or will otherwise be associated with the addressindicia. For unicast content, the address indicia may be the IP addressfor the mobile terminal 12. For multicast or broadcast delivery, theaddress indicia will include an address or other identifier foridentifying the content flow as being that corresponding to the selectedcontent. Decoding information may include keys for deciphering thecontent, the codec to be used for interpreting the content, and thelike.

During this time, the mobile terminal 12 may systematically providecapabilities updates to the service delivery controller 14 or on an asneeded basis (step 214). The mobile terminal 12 will recognize receiptof any new network selection or address indicia (step 216). If newnetwork selection or address indicia is received, the mobile terminal 12will transition to the new network interface, the new address indicia,or a combination thereof for receiving the content flow (step 218). Ifthere is no new network selection or address indicia (step 216), themobile terminal 12 will continue receiving the content flow using thecurrent address indicia and the current network interface, and willprovide mobile terminal capability updates as needed on a systematicbasis.

With reference to FIG. 7, a communication flow diagram is provided toillustrate the registration and content selection process according toone embodiment of the present invention. The mobile terminal 12 willinitiate a Service Registration after registering with one or moreaccess networks (step 300). In this embodiment, the mobile terminal 12and the service delivery controller (SDC) 14 use SIP for signaling andtake advantage of the Session Description Protocol (SDP) for carryingvarious types of information, such as the mobile terminal capabilities,the network selection and address indicia, and the like. Accordingly,the mobile terminal 12 will send a SIP Register message, including themobile terminal capabilities in the SDP field, to the service deliverycontroller 14 (step 302). The service delivery controller 14 willregister the mobile terminal 12 (step 304) and provide a SIP OK messageback to the mobile terminal 12 (step 306). The SIP OK message mayinclude the electronic service guide (ESG) URI in the SDP field.

The mobile terminal 12 will then use the ESG URI to access theelectronic service guide and present it to the user (step 308). Themobile terminal 12 will recognize the user selecting certain content,such as a television program (step 310), and send a SIP Invite messageidentifying the content selection to the service delivery controller 14(step 312). The SIP Invite message may include updated mobile terminalcapabilities in the SDP field. The service delivery controller 14 maythen interact with various policy servers, such as the policy server 38for the cellular network 20, to effect a service validation, making surethat the underlying access network will provide the resources necessaryfor the requested content (step 314). The service delivery controller 14may also ensure that the service level agreement at the content serviceprovider is such that the requested content can be delivered to themobile terminal 12. The service delivery controller 14 will then selector otherwise determine the delivery method and determine routingrequirements as discussed above (step 316). This will result in networkselection and address indicia for the mobile terminal 12.

Accordingly, the service delivery controller 14 will respond to the SIPInvite by providing a SIP OK message to the mobile terminal 12 (step318). The SIP OK message may include the network selection and addressindicia for the content selection. Other information may be provided,such as the required keys for decrypting the content of the contentflow. At this point, the service delivery controller 14 will effectdelivery of the content to the mobile terminal 12 as appropriate, andthe mobile terminal 12 will use the address indicia and the decryptionkey to recover the transmitted content via the network as dictated bythe network selection indicia.

With reference to FIG. 8, a basic communication flow is illustratedwherein the service delivery controller 14 assigns a new networkselection or address indicia. Initially, the service delivery controller14 will determine that there is a need for new network selection oraddress indicia for a given mobile terminal 12 in association with acontent flow. The service delivery controller 14 will assign new networkselection or address indicia for the mobile terminal 12 (step 400) andwill send a SIP Re-Invite message to the mobile terminal 12 (step 402).The SIP Re-Invite message will include the new network selection oraddress indicia in the SDP field. The mobile terminal 12 will receivethe network selection or address indicia and transition to receiving thecontent flow via a different network interface based on the networkselection indicia, or use a different address to receive the contentflow based on the address indicia (step 404). The mobile terminal 12will send a SIP OK message to the service delivery controller 14 toindicate that the transition has taken place (step 406).

With reference to FIG. 9, a communication flow is provided for a mobileterminal 12 requesting a network change during a content flow.Accordingly, the mobile terminal 12 will initiate a network change foran existing content flow (step 500). The mobile terminal 12 will send aSIP Re-Invite message indicating that a network change request is beingmade to the service delivery controller 14 (step 502), which willprovide service validations for the access network as well as for thecontent delivery (step 504). Assuming the service validation isapproved, the service delivery controller 14 will select a deliverymethod, if necessary, and determine any routing requirements in light ofthe request to change network by the mobile terminal 12 (step 506). Theservice delivery controller 14 will then send a SIP OK message to themobile terminal 12 (step 508). The SIP OK message may include anyrequisite network selection and address indicia, as well as anynecessary decryption keys to facilitate reception of the content flowvia another network flow by the mobile terminal 12. During this process,the service delivery controller 14 will make sure that the content flowis being provided via the new network using the address indicia that wasprovided to the mobile terminal 12. Again, the address indicia may nothave changed from the previous content flow, and thus may not need to beincluded in the SIP OK message.

Migration between unicast, multicast, or broadcast flows, as well asfrom one network to another, may be linked in certain instances. In oneembodiment, such migration is enhanced by implementing amake-before-break migration technique. For example, a session may bemigrated from unicast to multicast within a given cell. In this case,session migration does not require a corresponding hand-over function.The multicast session is initially set up in parallel with the unicastsession. Once the mobile terminal 12 signals that it is receiving thecontent flow for the multicast session, the unicast session may beended. If the migration involves a network change, an inter-networkhand-over is required in association with the transfer from one networkto another. Again, implementing a make-before-break handover will enablea more seamless migration from one network to another. For example, whenmigrating from a wireless LAN or cellular unicast session to a broadcastnetwork multicast session, the mobile terminal 12 may, for some periodof time, receive the content flow from the wireless LAN or cellularinterface and the broadcast interface simultaneously. The mobileterminal 12 will coordinate with the service delivery controller 14 toterminate the unicast flow once the broadcast network transmission isbeing properly received. Migration from one cell to another or from onelocal wireless zone to another within a given network is handled by therespective access network. Once an intra-network hand-over is completed,the mobile terminal 12 may update the service delivery controller 14with its new cell or local wireless zone identification. The servicedelivery controller 14 can use this new information in an effort tooptimize ongoing and future sessions.

Turning now to FIG. 10, a block representation of a service deliverycontroller 14 is provided. The service delivery controller 14 mayinclude a control system 44 having the requisite memory 46 for thesoftware 48 and data 50 required to facilitate operation as describedabove. The control system 44 may be associated with network interfaces52 as well as content provider interfaces 54. The network interfaces 52will provide direct or indirect connections to the core network 26,cellular network 20, local wireless network 22, and broadcast network24. The content provider interfaces 54 may be one of the networkinterfaces or a separate interface, directly or indirectly coupled tocontent servers provided by the content providers 16. The control system44 will operate under the control of the software 48 to provide thefunctionalities described above. In addition, the control system 44 maysupport various data aggregation, compression, coding, encryption, andlike processing to facilitate delivery of the content flows to themobile terminals 12 in an appropriate fashion. Those skilled in the artwill recognize that the service delivery controller 14 may beimplemented in a single entity, or its functionality may be distributedamong multiple entities.

The basic architecture of the mobile terminal 12 is represented in FIG.11 and may include a receiver front end 56, a radio frequencytransmitter section 58, an antenna 60, a duplexer or switch 62, abaseband processor 64, a control system 66, a frequency synthesizer 68,and an interface 70. The receiver front end 56 receives informationbearing radio frequency signals from one or more remote transmittersprovided by base stations 28, local wireless access points 32, orbroadcast stations 36 to provide cellular, local wireless, and broadcastnetwork interfaces. Such reception may take place relativelyconcurrently or at different times. A low noise amplifier 72 amplifiesthe signal. A filter circuit 74 minimizes broadband interference in thereceived signal, while downconversion and digitization circuitry 76downconverts the filtered, received signal to an intermediate orbaseband frequency signal, which is then digitized into one or moredigital streams. The receiver front end 56 typically uses one or moremixing frequencies generated by the frequency synthesizer 68. Thebaseband processor 64 processes the digitized received signal to extractthe content conveyed in the received signal. This processing typicallycomprises demodulation, decoding, and error correction operations. Assuch, the baseband processor 64 is generally implemented in one or moredigital signal processors (DSPs). The receiver front end 56 and basebandprocessor 64 may also monitor various parameters associated with orincluded in received signals to provide capabilities, which may bereported to the service delivery controller 14. For example, informationbearing on available networks, signal strengths, relative location, andthe like may be gathered from the received signals.

On the transmit side, the baseband processor 64 receives digitized data,which may represent voice, data, or control information, from thecontrol system 66, which it encodes for transmission. The encoded datais output to the transmitter 58, where it is used by a modulator 78 tomodulate a carrier signal that is at a desired transmit frequency. Poweramplifier circuitry 80 amplifies the modulated carrier signal to a levelappropriate for transmission, and delivers the amplified and modulatedcarrier signal to the antenna 60 through the duplexer or switch 62.

As noted above, the mobile terminal 12 must be able to communicate overthe cellular network 20 and the local wireless network 22. Accordingly,the receiver front end 56, baseband processor 64, and radio frequencytransmitter section 58 cooperate to support the cellular and localwireless interfaces. These functions may be implemented using redundantcircuitry, or by configuring common circuitry to operate in differentmodes. The configuration of the mobile terminal 12 will be dictated byeconomics and designer choice. The mobile terminal 12 could have boththe local wireless interface and the cellular interface active atdifferent times or at the same time and select one of the communicationinterfaces at any given time based on signal quality or other factors,such as instructions from the service delivery controller 14.

A user may interact with the mobile terminal 12 via the interface 70,which may include interface circuitry 82 associated with a microphone84, a speaker 86, a keypad 88, and a display 90. Content received viaany of the interfaces may be provided to the user via the speaker 86 anddisplay 90. The interface circuitry 82 typically includesanalog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, amplifiers,and the like. Additionally, it may include a voice encoder/decoder, inwhich case it may communicate directly with the baseband processor 64.The microphone 84 will typically convert audio input, such as the user'svoice, into an electrical signal, which is then digitized and passeddirectly or indirectly to the baseband processor 64. Audio informationencoded in the received signal is recovered by the baseband processor64, and converted by the interface circuitry 82 into an analog signalsuitable for driving the speaker 86. The keypad 88 and display 90 enablethe user to interact with the mobile terminal 12, input numbers to bedialed, address book information, or the like, as well as monitor callprogress information.

As indicated, the mobile terminal 12 may take various forms; however, inoperation the mobile terminal 12 may be able to operate in a single ormulti-mode configuration, wherein either one or multiple communicationsessions may be facilitated at the same or different times. As such, themobile terminal 12 may be configured to simultaneously maintaindifferent active connections on multiple wireless access networks of thesame or different types. When such capability is provided, thetransition from the first to the second connection for select contentdelivery may be maintained on the first connection until the secondconnection is established. In one embodiment, the mobile terminal 12will support an Internet Protocol based signaling client to communicatewith the service delivery controller 14. In operation, the mobileterminal 12 may facilitate cell or local wireless zone selection withoutimpacting the operation of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for selective content reception over disparatenetworks comprising: receiving a first network selection indicia and afirst address indicia associated with a content at a mobile terminal,the first network selection indicia corresponding to a first disparatenetwork, and the first address indicia bearing on an address to use forreceiving the content; receiving the content via the first disparatenetwork identified by the first network selection indicia at the mobileterminal; identifying a network change while the content is beingreceived; initiating a network change request; receiving a secondnetwork selection indicia and a second address indicia associated withthe content at the mobile terminal, the second network selection indiciacorresponding to a second disparate network, and the second addressindicia bearing on an address to use for receiving the content; andreceiving the content via the second disparate network identified in thesecond network selection indicia at the mobile terminal.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein receiving the first network selection indiciafurther comprises selecting the first disparate network based upon thereceived first network selection indicia.
 4. The method of claim 2,wherein receiving the second network selection indicia further comprisesselecting the second disparate network based upon the received secondnetwork selection indicia.
 5. The method of claim 2, further comprisingsending a register request for a content delivery service.
 6. The methodof claim 5, wherein the register request includes capabilities of themobile terminal.
 7. The method of claim 2, further comprising receivinginformation or URI of an electronic service guide.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising accessing to the information or URI of theelectronic service guide.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprisingdisplaying the information or URI of the electronic service guide on ascreen for a selection by a user.
 10. The method of claim 2, wherein thecontent is at least one of a group consisting of audio, video,television content, file, and data.
 11. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising receiving at least one key required for decrypting thecontent.
 12. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying thecontent being received based upon a last received address indicia. 13.The method of claim 2, further comprising maintaining an existingcontent flow for the content until a new content flow for the content isestablished for the network change.
 14. The method of claim 2, whereinthe first address indicia is the same as the second address indicia. 15.The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of disparate networkscomprises at least one of a broadcast network, a cellular network, and alocal wireless network.
 16. The method of claim 2, wherein the receivingof the content comprises using at least one of the following deliverymethods: a unicast delivery, a multicast delivery, and a broadcastdelivery.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein an address indicia for theunicast delivery comprises an Internet Protocol address of the mobileterminal.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein an address indicia for themulticast delivery and the broadcast delivery comprises a common addressassigned to a group of mobile terminals.
 19. A mobile terminal forselective content reception over disparate networks comprising at leastone communication interface adapted to facilitate wirelesscommunications with a plurality of disparate networks; and at least oneprocessor associated with the at least one communication interface, theat least one processor being configured to: receive a first networkselection indicia and a first address indicia associated with a content,the first network selection indicia corresponding to a first disparatenetwork, and the first address indicia bearing on an address to use forreceiving the content; receive the content via the first disparatenetwork identified by the first network selection indicia; identify anetwork change while the content is being received; initiate a networkchange request; receive a second network selection indicia and a secondaddress indicia associated with the content, the second networkselection indicia corresponding to a second disparate network, and thesecond address indicia bearing on an address to use for receiving thecontent; and receive the content via the second disparate networkidentified in the second network selection indicia.